While E3 is underway, Epic Games's infamous lead designer Cliff Bleszinski has been interviewed about Unreal II on GameSpy. The producer talks about many topics, including upcoming game hardware such as the Xbox, consoles in general and more. The interview focuses on Legend Entertainment's upcoming Unreal II, the sequel to hit FPS Unreal. The engine is based off the Unreal Tournament but a lot of improvements have been made, to say the least. Here is more on UII:

GameSpy: What can you tell us about Unreal II? What makes you excited about it?

Cliff Bleszinski: Well first thing it looks great. And since the PC Gamer cover came out, the art assets have increased three fold in quality. They're looking very, very good. Legend is doing a really good job. They're looking to deliver the killer single-player experience that everybody wants. I mean they'll be multiplayer in the game. After speaking to the press and coming off of Unreal Tournament, everyone expects MULTIPLAYER, MULTIPLAYER and MULTIPLAYER. It's like, you know what? There's still a lot to be said for an amazing single-player experience. And that's what they're going to deliver. You know Half-Life sold millions of copies because of its single-player. People are still playing it now multiplayer, but out of the box, it was for the single player experience.

If you want to find out more information about the upcoming sequel, you might want to pass by GameSpy's new preview, including new screen shots. The shots are not of high resolution, but still give a better idea of what is coming up. The preview is based on a information gathered by GameSpy but also a demo they saw in private, in a dark room filled with men in suits:

Just as in the original Unreal, there will be plenty of enemies in Unreal II. As of now, there are 24 different enemies in the game. The only returning aliens from the first game are the Skaaji. In Unreal II they are one of the warring alien races. New enemies include Mercs or mercenary soldiers, well armed and intelligent they can carry different weapons and are able to communicate and interact with their squad mates during combat. Striders are biological creatures that not only grow their own armor but their own weapons and spaceships. Alone, the Strider Pod is not very threatening, however, if you group a bunch together they will create a Strider Villain. Group some Strider Villains together and you'll get a Strider Nemesis. What's cool about the Strider monsters is that it can navigate around obstacles and through small openings by disassembling themselves long enough to get though it, only to reassemble at the other side. How wicked is that?

The game is not due until 2002, so Unreal and UT fans have some waiting to do. As many past games based on the Unreal Tourney engine have come to the Mac OS, we are almost certain this game will come to our platform as well.
Unreal 2Legend EntertainmentUnreal II preview at GameSpy